Revelations
by Inversnaid
Summary: Post Legend of Sleepy Halliwell. The Elders give Chris an ultimatum.


Disclaimer: Not mine!  
  
Revelations  
  
"Leo, I really don't like this, I trust him, we trust him" Phoebe insisted.  
  
"I know" he responded heavily. "I trust him too, but I can't change the Elders' minds on this. They think he put a spell on me"  
  
"I'm not saying I don't trust Chris, because I do now, but it would be a lie if I said I wouldn't be more comfortable if I knew more about him" Piper voiced her opinion.  
  
"OK, let's do this" Paige sighed. "Chris!"  
  
After a seconds pause, sparking blue orbs appeared and Chris stood in front of them. He looked at each of them in turn, staring intently at their faces. Evidently he didn't like what he saw as he heaved a sigh and said, "I'm not going to like this, am I?"  
  
Paige grinned wryly at him "Nope, sorry"  
  
Leo stood up. "I've been sent by the Elders to give you an ultimatum. Either you tell us more about yourself and why you came to the past, or they are going to send you back."  
  
Phoebe noticed the rather stricken expression on Chris's face, and imagining what it would be like if her own father had said that to her, was quick to reassure him. "It's not that we agree Chris, we trust you, but we don't have much choice in the matter" Chris made eye contact with her and nodded slightly to express his understanding and gratitude.  
  
Chris sat down suddenly. He was rather pale and quickly got lost in his thoughts. The others prepared to give him a while to get used to what they were asking him to do, and were surprised when he suddenly looked up at them, a determined expression on his face.  
  
"I want you to do a truth spell on me," he said firmly. "Some of what I'm going to tell you will be difficult for you to take in. It will be easier on all of us if you know I'm telling the truth. There should be one in the book."  
  
The sisters agreed, and went up to the attic to find the spell. Chris and Leo remained where they were. Leo looked at him for a long moment, then said, simply "sorry." He smiled at Chris, then orbed out to get Wyatt, who was crying.  
  
~*~  
  
Half an hour later, after the spell had been performed, they were all gathered in the living room. Chris stood and began pacing.  
  
"I'm going to start with the easier part," he told them. "What happened after the Titans came in my past. I told you before that Paige died that day. Piper was distraught from the loss of her sister, so Leo refused to become an Elder. You were never given the power of the Gods, and the Titans began to take over the world. They began to kill all magical creatures, witches, elves, nymphs, demons, everything. The side of good took most of the damage though, as the demons retreated to the underworld where the Titans couldn't reach. Eventually the Titans vanquished each other, during a huge fight between themselves that destroyed whole cities. As so many witches were dead, and the few remaining Whitelighters were very disorganised, demons began to take over Earth. Many remaining witches were sought out and killed, so you went into hiding, cloaking the manor so no magic was detected there. You began to secretly help witches, but no magic was ever used here. We..."  
  
"Wait" Piper interrupted. "You knew us?"  
  
"Of course. Why else would I have come back to help you?"  
  
A look of understanding came over Piper's face, so Chris continued.  
  
"We trained on another plane, which my dad and some other Whitelighters created. Then one day, when I was about 10, Wyatt and me were on the other plane being trained to use our Whitelighter powers by Leo. When we got back we found the bodies of everyone living in the manor, including my mum and you guys."  
  
He had to stop there, and dry the tears that were running down his face. Phoebe, understanding the full implications of what he was saying, stood up to embrace him. After a few minutes, he was composed again, and resumed both his story and his pacing.  
  
"After that Wyatt began to become more independent, cutting himself off from everyone else in his grief. He no longer bothered hiding his power, and easily vanquished the demons that came after him. After a while, the fight between good and evil became less important to him: he was completely focused on finding and vanquishing the demons responsible for your deaths. Human lives were no longer important to him; he didn't care who he hurt with his demon hunting. In the beginning, I helped him..."  
  
"Wait a minute, you're saying that as an 10-year-old you took part in that sort of demon fighting?" Paige cut in.  
  
"You've got to understand 2 things" Chris replied. "The first is that living in that world forced me to grow up really quick, the second is that I am nearly as powerful as Wyatt, and he was only 12 at the time."  
  
Paige nodded, to show that she understood and Chris continued his story.  
  
"Anyway, so I was helping him, I wanted my own revenge on the demons, but when Wyatt began to hurt innocents, I realised what was happening to him, he was being consumed by his desire for revenge. I tried to warn Leo, but he was grieving himself and refused to believe that his son was murdering innocents. By the time he was 14, Wyatt had complete control of Earth, because all the demons in charge were afraid of him. He used his knowledge of the magical underground to kill off anyone with the power to fight him, including Leo. I never really found out why he didn't vanquish me, maybe because we were close as children, maybe because he wanted my power on his side, I think a combination of the 2."  
  
"So if the fact that you were close as children saved you, why did he kill me?" Leo interrupted.  
  
"Like I said, it was more likely a combination of the 2, and you are a pacifist Leo, he knew you wouldn't join him. For the first few years after that I made myself scarce, I didn't have enough power to fight him. But then I got word that one of my cousins had escaped the original attack on the manor, and that Wyatt had found her and forced her to be his bride. This made me really angry, and I began to plot against Wyatt, trying to find a way to get Patience, my cousin, out. I joined a resistance movement against Wyatt, it was mostly made up of weak witches, but there were demons and even Phoenixes there. That's where I met Bianca, and we formed a plan to send me back in time to prevent the whole thing in the first place. Even the demons agreed that I should come back as far as when the Titans first came, and save you guys."  
  
As soon as he had finished, he sat sown and began to sob in earnest, memories that he had been suppressing had been force to the front of his mind, and he was having a hard time dealing with them. Phoebe hugged him again, and looked sternly at the others.  
  
"The rest can wait till morning, don't you think?" she questioned. Everyone agreed.  
  
*~*  
  
Chris did not wake till well past mid day the next morning, and when he did he found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. He sat up quickly, wary. On closer inspection, he realised that the room was actually Phoebe's and vaguely recalled her asking Paige to orb him up here, and then sitting with him, stroking his hair until his sobs calmed and he drifted off to sleep. He also recalled that he had to tell he parents that he was their son this morning, and fell back into the pillows with a sigh.  
  
Just at that moment Phoebe entered, and seeing he was awake smiled at him.  
  
"Good afternoon sleepy head, ready to answer the 'who are you?' question this morning?" she asked.  
  
He groaned in response, but began to get up.  
  
*~*  
  
Ten minutes later everyone was gathered in the living room again. Chris was sat on the couch, looking at his hands when Leo spoke up.  
  
"You don't have to tell us anything else if you don't want to"  
  
"I might as well finish what I started" Chris responded. "Will the truth spell still work?"  
  
"Yes, it had a 24 hour time limit on it" Piper told him.  
  
"OK." He took a deep breath, preparing himself. "I..." He was lost. How could he tell his own parents that he was their son from the future, a son that hadn't been conceived yet, never mind born?  
  
Phoebe's gentle voice broke in on his inner musings.  
  
"Chris, do you want me to do this?"  
  
Leo's, Paige's and Piper's mouths fell open simultaneously.  
  
"WHAT?!" yelled Paige.  
  
"You know?!" questioned Leo.  
  
Phoebe almost smiled at this reaction.  
  
"Last week I had vision, and it helped me work out who Chris was. I asked him whether I was right and he confirmed it, but asked me not to say anything."  
  
Chris thought for a second. "I don't know how to say it" he told Phoebe.  
  
"Just be straight with them, don't beat around the bush" she advised.  
  
He nodded. "I never told you who my parents were, or what my real name is," he said. "The truth is that I didn't want you to know, because..."  
  
He took a deep breath.  
  
"Because my real name is Christian Perry Halliwell, and my parents were – are - Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt," he said in a rush.  
  
There was a collective gasp, and then silence.  
  
Chris orbed out.  
  
~*~  
  
Piper was pale, and shocked into silence. Leo, also pale and silent, was remembering all the times he had tried to undermine Chris, all the insults and distrust. His own words echoed in his head "you're not family".  
  
"Oh God" he moaned.  
  
Then he sprang into action.  
  
"We need to find him," he said.  
  
Piper jumped up. "Can you sense him?" she enquired.  
  
Leo concentrated for a second, before nodding, and holding out his hands to his family so he could orb them to Chris.  
  
When they orbed in, Chris was sitting, his back to them, in a graveyard. He sensed their approach and spoke quietly to them.  
  
"This is where we buried you." He told them softly.  
  
Piper gestured for the others to stop, and then sat down next to him and took his face in her hands, turning it towards her.  
  
"Chris" she said, trying the name out. There was a pause. "My son"  
  
He smiled, the unshed tears in his eyes spilling out down his cheeks. Piper studied his face intently, as if seeing it for the first time. Then she smiled.  
  
"I don't know how I missed it" she commented. "You look like my mum"  
  
Then she pulled him into a hug.  
  
"Come home Chris." She said smiling. He nodded, and everyone orbed back to the manor. Once there, Chris found himself enveloped in a group hug, and when everyone pulled back, Leo lifted his chin so they made eye contact.  
  
"You are family" he said firmly.  
  
The End 


End file.
